May 29, 2014

In April, FxHome spun off most of the plug-ins from HitFilm, their affordable After Effect "clone" app, into a new product, HitFilm Plugins. With over 130 plug-ins for visual effects, compositing, and color grading, the package supports After Effects, Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, and Apple Motion on two computers for all
hosts on Mac and Windows.

Oddly enough, HitFilm Plugins
are more expensive than the much fuller-featured HitFilm Ultimate app, which itself causes some to wonderIs it the new “Production Premium”?. As for the plug-ins, you'll have to download the free trial
to see for yourself if enough of the package is unique for you and
how it might fit in your workflow.

If you're not invested in After Effects plug-ins already, and looking for a
fun & broadly capable package that's relatively inexpensive, check out the resource guide HitFilm plug-ins for NLEs and After Effects on PVC.

May 18, 2014

Nebulas can be created several ways in After Effects: with "cards in space" of real images, or generated by Fractal Noise or 3D particle systems, commonly fractal-displaced particle arrays like Trapcode Mir, Form, or perhaps Hiltfilm Atomic Particle and others.

Nebula construction in After Effects collects a few resources, most notably Nebula Construction Kit, a video guide to a free AE project file using Trapcode Mir from Peder Norrby of Trapcode.

May 9, 2014

A couple of years ago, Jesse Michael Newman released a layer-by-layer video deconstruction of an After Effects project, 'DECONSTRUCTING GAEA I - Flowing Meditation' — though the end result was a print piece — as part of a Kickstarter campaign. He has a new piece, 'DECONSTRUCTING GAEA II,' to support a short sale on art prints.
Read about Making GAEA and After Effects for print (+ ETLAT) at Pro Video Coalition. Here's some of Newman's work: